1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a recording medium in which a device administration program for administering a device such as, e.g., an image forming apparatus is recorded, and also relates to a device administration apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
The following description sets forth the inventor's knowledge of related art and problems therein and should not be construed as an admission of knowledge in the prior art.
In accordance with the functional sophistication of such devices, various settings are required to fulfill the functions appropriately. In a case of an image forming apparatus such as, e.g., a MFP (Multi Function Peripherals) which is a digital complex machine, various settings are required. Such settings include a network setting, editing of authentication data, address settings for an email address to which image data is to be sent. In addition to the above, also required are ex-post administrations such as adding and/or changing of the aforementioned set data.
Such administration of the device including initialization settings of the device and changing and/or adding of the initial settings is performed exclusively by the device administrator to secure the security. In performing the operation, it is usually required to input a device password proving the administrator.
Recently, such administration can be performed via a personal computer as an administration device using a specific device administering program (hereinafter may be simply referred to as “application”).
In cases where the aforementioned device administration is performed via a personal computer, by using a single application (denoted as “App” in figure) 110 containing a plurality of administration functions as shown in FIG. 10, it was conventionally possible to use a plurality of administration functions of the device 200. In other words, it was possible to set and/or change all of the settings such as the network setting, the editing of authentication data, and the address settings.
Meanwhile, an administrator may wish to entrust one or more specified administration functions to his/her sub-administrator. In such case, according to the application 110 of the type shown in FIG. 10, however, once the device password is given to the sub-administrator, there is such a drawback that it becomes possible for the sub-administrator to use not only the one or more specified administration functions but also all of the administration functions, causing a security problem.
In order to solve such drawback, as shown in FIG. 11, it can be considered to employ a method in which applications 101 to 104 are created on each administration function and an administrator gives only specified applications to his/her sub-administrator to entrust the corresponding administration functions. In this method, administration functions capable of being used by the sub-administrator can be limited even if the device password is given to the sub-administrator.
On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 12, US 2004/0148516 A1 proposes a method in which execution modules 121 and 122 capable of utilizing specific functions are given to the application 120 as plug-ins. In this method, once a plug-in is installed, a function corresponding to the plug-in becomes executable.
However, in the method shown in FIG. 11 in which applications are created every administration function and only applications for specified administration functions are given to an sub-administrator, the administrator has to administer the applications 101 to 1041 corresponding to administration functions of many kinds and select specific applications among them for an sub-administrator, which causes very troublesome administration.
In a method shown in FIG. 12 in which execution modules 121 and 122 capable of utilizing specific functions are given as plug-ins, the administrator also has to administer many execution modules 121 and 122 every specific function and select specific plug-ins among them to distribute for an sub-administrator, which also causes very troublesome administration. In addition, it is required to regulate the connecting method for connecting the basic portion 120 of the application and the plug-in modules 121 and 122, resulting in troublesome processing.
The description herein of advantages and disadvantages of various features, embodiments, methods, and apparatus disclosed in other publications is in no way intended to limit the present invention. Indeed, certain features of the invention may be capable of overcoming certain disadvantages, while still retaining some or all of the features, embodiments, methods, and apparatus disclosed therein.